Spill Response Exercises

Oil Discharge Prevention and Contingency Plan Exercises

The vast majority of spill response exercises that PPR staff participate in are related to Industry Oil Discharge Prevention and Contingency Plans (Plans). Spill response exercises are an important tool used by the Department to determine whether a Plan is adequate in content and that the plan holder can execute a response effectively using the resources committed in the Plan. PPR staff often partner with local, state, and federal agencies, local communities, or other stakeholder groups - as well as plan holders - to plan, conduct, and evaluate contingency plan exercises. Most often, these exercises are also utilized to accomplish multiple agency exercise requirements, primarily those of the federal Preparedness for Response Exercise Program.

Both announced and unannounced oil spill response exercises may be conducted for any regulated terminal, exploration, production, refinery, tank vessel, or barge plan holder up to twice a year. For Nontank Vessel (NTV) plans, PPR conducts exercises on NTV Cleanup Contractors and NTV Incident Management Teams that support multiple NTV plan holders.

Oil spill response exercises may range from small equipment deployments or focused incident management team exercise to large-scale equipment deployments based on the aspect or component(s) of a Plan the Department, partner agencies, and/or the plan holder need to test. Exercises provide the opportunity to identify and correct gaps either through plan amendments, operational improvements, or both. If the Department finds it necessary, it may conduct additional exercises to verify improvements have been made and the plan can be adequately implemented.

Oil Spill Exercise Improvements Project

Hazardous Material Spill Response Exercises

To better protect public health and the environment, PPR maintains the capability to respond to an emergent hazardous material release or incident anywhere in Alaska. The Statewide Hazardous Material Response Work Group, a standing work group comprised of federal, state, and local first responders, and coordinated by PPR staff, are dedicated to developing, maintaining and enhancing existing hazmat response in Alaska. Through this work group, the Alaska Regional Response Team, and the State Emergency Response Commission, PPR and our partners are able to develop and participate in multi-jurisdictional exercise and training opportunities, like the triennial Alaska Shield full-scale exercise.